Mourning the Death of the Meta Media Experience
on Nov 20, 2009 in General Stuff Popular Science Apple boxee cable cable tv dvrs media on demand technology television the grouse tom conlon tvs Face it: On-demand is the future of TV. But is passive channel surfing and collective viewing something we won't know the value of until it's gone? I tend to think of my cable bill kind of like my health insurance premium. Every month, I begrudgingly...

This Week in the Future, November 16-20, 2009
on Nov 20, 2009 in Popular Science cartoons giveaways science Leave a comment to win a TWITF T-shirt! UV phasers, battlefield-based cryogenic tech, computerized cat brains and space fish on Jupiter's moon? Believe it, baby. The future is yours, and we've rounded it up for you in high style once again with This...

New Space Telescope Could Search for Both Exoplanets and Dark Energy
on Nov 20, 2009 in Popular Science aliens dark energy earth-like exoplanets extraterrestrials galaxies jeremy hsu planets space space telescopes stars technology telescopes universal expansion universe Europe's proposed Euclid mission would use a microlensing technique to hunt both ET and dark energy Dark energy may not have much in common with aliens, unless there's a flotilla of freaky monoliths out there with really weird physical properties. Bu...

Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers’ Heads by 2020
on Nov 20, 2009 in Intel Popular Science brain implants cybernetic cyborgs fmri interface virtual reality wireless Researchers expect brain waves to operate computers, TVs and cell phones If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts...

High-Tech Space Gloves Win NASA’s Astronaut Glove Challenge
on Nov 20, 2009 in General Stuff astronauts centennial challenges gloves jeremy hsu lunar moon moonwalkers nasa space spacesuits technology vacuum Two teams claimed $250,000 and $100,000 prizes for besting NASA's current top glove design Glove designers walked away with a total of $400,000 in prize money at NASA's second Astronaut Glove Challenge yesterday. The U.S. space agency awarded the mon...

The (Slightly) Poorer Man’s Tesla: ECOS Harbinger
on Nov 20, 2009 in General Stuff cars concept cars electric cars mike spinelli sports cars Italian looks, German engineering and American electrics. Zero to 60 in five seconds, scissor doors, and you'll even get some change back from a $100,000 bill For around 13 grand, Electric Cars of Springfield (ECOS) will turn your old beater into an...

China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters
on Nov 20, 2009 in Popular Science 2009 cctv december 2009 engineering metropolitan architecture Better buildings through geometry CCTV‘s new headquarters in Beijing wears its engineering on its sleeve. So complex is this 768-foot-tall anti-skyscraper that the architects, the Netherlands-based Office of Metropolitan Architecture, chose to show...

Steward Advanced Materials Thiol-SAMMS: The Toxin Terminator
on Nov 20, 2009 in General Stuff Popular Science 2009 december 2009 green tech mercury samms silica A white power that can absorb more than half its weight in mercury This simple-looking white powder can get mercury-contaminated water 100 times as clean as any other method, for about half the cost. Each grain is actually a carefully engineered mole...

Yikes: Peruvian Jungle Gang Arrested for Selling Fat of Its Murder Victims
on Nov 20, 2009 in Popular Science black market cosmetics fat harvesting human fat jeremy hsu peruvian gang pishtacos science stem cells Is there any medical use for black market human fat? Scientists are skeptical Plentiful fat seems more reviled than revered in today's society, even when it has uses for the medical and cosmetic industries. But today police announced the arrest of a...

CERN Successfully Brings Large Hadron Collider Back Online
on Nov 20, 2009 in Popular Science cern colliders large hadron collider lhc paul adams supercolliders technology Much beset by magnet quenches , birds, bread , black holes, evil time travelers, and fools, the Large Hadron Collider successfully came online and orbited a proton beam today! Photographs of the triumphant moment are within .